BUFFALO, N.Y. — Josh Norris’ father never had steered him wrong before. And yet the Sabres forward somewhat was skeptical of just how passionate Buffalo was as a hockey market upon his arrival in a trade from Ottawa a year ago.
Sidelined by an injury, Norris would sit in the press box staring out at a half-empty arena, and hearing a chorus of boos and derogatory chants directed at the team and now former general manager Kevyn Adams, who was fired in December and replaced by Jarmo Kekalainen.
This wasn’t the rollicking atmosphere his dad, Dwayne Norris, recalled of Buffalo during his brief NHL playing days in the mid-1990s, before spending 11 more seasons in Germany.
“I knew he wasn’t lying,” Norris said of his father’s recollections, which suddenly have been realized by a Sabres team enjoying a remarkable turnaround that’s unmistakably revived the hockey buzz in Buffalo this season.
“I feel like they’re getting let out of a cage in a sense — and I mean that in the best way possible,” Norris said of an energized fanbase that’s filling the 19,000-plus seat KeyBank Center, and bringing back memorable chants such as, “Ooh! Ahh! Sabres on the warpath.”
“Now that we’re in this spot, I think it’s hard to miss,” he added. “It’s right in front of you. And it’s incredible to be a part of.”
Winning has a way of flipping the script for a franchise mired in an NHL-record 14-season playoff drought.
In the span of three-plus months, the Sabres have gone from sitting last in the Eastern Conference standings to sharing top spot with Carolina following their 4-3 overtime loss to Boston. The Sabres are riding a 33-6-4 run that’s all but assured them of clinching their first playoff berth since 2011.
And the fans are coming back in hordes.
A season after selling out just five of 40 home games (not including an NHL Global Series outing in Europe), the Sabres have enjoyed 17 sellouts this year, including their past 11 straight.
“You can’t beat it. It’s unbelievable. We have some of the best fans in the league and they deserve the success,” said forward Alex Tuch, who was a Sabres fan growing up in Syracuse, New York.
Now 29, Tuch was 14 the last time the Sabres qualified for the playoffs, and had just turned 11 the last time Buffalo won a playoff series in 2007.
“It’s pretty cool, honestly,” Tuch said of what his younger self might think. “I’d be pretty proud of myself right now. But like I’ve said, job not done.”
The Sabres, to a man, have taken a stay-the-course approach in avoiding getting caught up in the wave of excitement they’ve generated. Past frustrations and collapses are still too recent to allow players and coach Lindy Ruff to be drawn into a sense of overconfidence.
Though there are enough comparisons to the team’s last heydays in 2005-07, when Buffalo twice reached and lost in the East finals, Ruff has kept the focus firmly on the present.
“You guys are going to get tired of this,” he said, referring to reporters, “but we’re focusing on the next game.”
And yet Ruff, now in the second season of his second stint in Buffalo, can appreciate how the atmosphere has changed during home games — reminiscent of his first tenure coaching the team from 1997-2013.
“The energy in the building has really been great for our group. I mean, it’s probably the first time they’ve experienced it,” Ruff said. “So embrace it but know there’s a lot of work to do.”
With 10 games left, Buffalo’s magic number to clinch a playoff berth is 10 points.
Leading scorer Tage Thompson only had known frustration during his previous seven seasons in Buffalo.
“I think everyone in the room has a big level of pride for where we’ve gotten ourselves up to this point. It’s been an extremely hard road to get here,” Thompson said. “I think that gives you a little bit more appreciation for where you’re at. And I think it makes you not want to take it for granted.”
